An Hour With Leon

So, I tuned in for the first hour of the Leon Gray Show this afternoon. It was... well, OK. I expected something different somehow. It was any other talk show, but with different carpet, furniture and paint.

The topic of the day was local: the renaming of Memphis parks. Leon called Nathan Forrest a "terrorist" guilty of "treason," saying he lived under the same Constitution we do today. Of course, that's silly; he didn't. Grey seems to have no understanding of the nation at that time, nor the people and culture of the era. His grasp of history and historical context were pretty woeful, almost embarrassing.

Leon went to the phones pretty quickly, no long-winded monologue after the introductory thank-yous and hellos. He was good about letting callers have their say, but a couple of times had to hurry people along as the breaks came up. They seemed to be spaced about 10 minutes apart. He didn't have much in the way of paying ads -- a lot of promos, "Memphis urban legends," and public service stuff by and large. I'm guessing that when the first Arbitron numbers come out, you'll see an increase in paying ads.

Of course, they played a eulogy to Fleming that was "heh" funny, but not "ahahahahahahaha" funny.

Then Harold Ford Jr called in about 4:45. Everything went out the window and Gray spend the rest of the hour with the erstwhile Senator-wannabe. He even got Ford to state unequivocally that he's really, truly, no second thoughts running for Senator Frist's seat. Sheesh, why is that an issue?

The Congressman blathered about his opposition to the PATRIOT act and the requisite grilling of Judge Roberts for the Supreme Court nomination. As it says in my notes: "blahblahblah."

The choice of bumper music was telling: Sixties/Seventies nostalgia! BTO and Takin' Care of Business, Sam and Dave's Soul Man, Money, Hear it Through the Grapevine, Spirit in the Sky. Boomer nostalgia.

It wasn't a mess, though there were glitches, but it wasn't compelling radio, either. I'll listen out the week. If something merits more notice, I'll pass it on.